JP3517420B2 - Telepointer display method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for supporting collaborative information processing using a plurality of workstations (information processing devices) arranged at remote locations using a communication network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the widespread use of workstations having a high-speed and inexpensive communication network and a high-performance and easy-to-use user interface, various work in offices has been digitized. The digitization of personal work, such as the creation of materials by word processors, has already become widespread.

More recently, there has been a trend to improve the efficiency of collaborative work by a plurality of members by electronic means. There, a network of multiple workstations is provided, providing a collaborative work environment as if they were in the same conference room, even though they were in remote locations. Participants can hold a meeting using audio or in some cases video while referring to the same materials as other participants.

Voice consultation using a telephone is now firmly established as a means of communication. However, in telephone communication, since the available media is limited to voice, it is difficult to make intricate consultations that require drawings and images. This is complemented by the remote electronic dialogue system.

[0005]

In the remote electronic interactive system, in addition to the conventional voice, the display screen of the workstation can be shared, so that a much more efficient meeting is possible. Although the material can be shared in the electronic dialogue, it is not possible to see the participant who is operating the material, which makes it difficult to recognize what part other participants are talking about. .
To compensate for this, a means for pointing to a particular part of the material, a telepointer (remote pointer), is often provided.

As a conventional technique related to the telepointer, S.
R.Ahuja, JREnsor, DNHorn, "The Rappo Multimedia Conferencing System (The Rappo
rt Conferencing System Conference on Office Infor
mation systems (1988), Watanabe et al. "Multimedia distributed enrollment conference system MERMAID", IPSJ Transactions Vol.3
2, No. 9 (1991). Further, a telepointer is also described in the figure drawing erasing method previously proposed by the applicant in Japanese Patent Application No. 63-331379.

In order to display the telepointer, it is necessary to associate the telepointer with the window. The telepointer is displayed in the window in which the telepointer use start operation is performed, but in the hierarchical window system, the telepointer use start operation is not always executed in the top-level window. Therefore, there is a problem that the telepointer cannot be moved to a window in a higher hierarchy than the window in which the use start operation is executed.

An object of the present invention is to provide a telepointer display method capable of moving a telepointer to a window of an arbitrary hierarchy regardless of which window of the hierarchy of a hierarchical window system is used to start using the telepointer. To do.

[0009]

According to the telepointer display method of the present invention, a plurality of information processing apparatuses each having a display screen are connected to each other via a network, and collaborative work is performed on the display screens of the plurality of information processing apparatuses. A method of displaying a telepointer for recognizing a position designated on a display screen of one information processing device on a display screen of another information processing device, the method comprising: To establish a communication state between them, to execute the same application program on the hierarchical window system in each information processing device, and to monitor the window creation by each application program in each information processing device, A step that manages multiple windows that share a hierarchical window as windows that belong to the same group. And a group to which the window belongs in one information processing device when a telepointer display start operation is performed at the time of displaying an arbitrary window in the one information processing device, and a group to which the window belongs in the one information processing device. Displaying a telepointer in the highest hierarchical window of the information processing device other than the one information processing device, and displaying the telepointer in the highest hierarchical window of a group to which the window belongs, Moving the corresponding telepointer in the top-level window on the display screen of another information processing device in conjunction with the movement of the telepointer in the top-level window on the display screen of the processing device. Is characterized by.

[0010]

According to the present invention, a group of windows that share a top-level window of one application program is managed as one group called a stage.

When the conference participant uses the telepointer, first, the "telepointer use start operation" is executed on an arbitrary window displayed by the application program. This is an operation such as pressing a mouse button or pressing a specific key on the keyboard. An event occurs in response to this operation, but the event is not necessarily the event of the top-level window. Therefore, when the control object (control program) receives the event indicating the "telepointer use start operation", the window identifier in the event is checked. Since the control object knows the stage to which all the windows of the application program belong, it can know the top-level window (that is, the stage base window) of the stage corresponding to the "telepointer use start operation".

When the stage base window in which the telepointer is to be displayed is determined, the windows forming the telepointer are created. This is called a telepointer window. The telepointer window is created as a child window of the stage base window. This allows the telepointer to be moved to any location in the stage base window, the top level window of the application program. This means that the telepointer can move freely within all windows that share this stage-based window.

As a result of the "telepointer use start operation", the telepointer is displayed on the stage of the participant who instructed the start of use. At the same time, the telepointer is similarly displayed on the corresponding stage of other participants. This telepointer moves according to the operation of the participant who owns the telepointer, and conveys the intention of the participant to other participants.

When one application program has a plurality of top level windows, the telepointer can be displayed independently for each top level window.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An electronic dialogue system which is an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an external view of a system used in an electronic interactive system. Multiple workstations 10A, 1
0B, 10C (subscripts A, B, C will be omitted when not individually distinguished. The same applies to other reference numbers).
Are connected to the network 70 and the screen displayed on the display is shared, so that a small number of people can collaborate with a remote party. Each workstation 10 has a keyboard 2 for inputting character data.
0, mouse 30 is provided. The telephone 50 is used for voice communication. The telephone 50 may be a normally used telephone, but the keyboard 2 can be used with both hands.
0, it is more preferable to have a hands-free function so that the mouse 30 can be operated. The workstation 10 is connected to the network 70 via a communication path 60. Network 7
0 is a local area network (LA
N) is an integrated digital network (ISD) between remote locations.
N) etc. can be selected as needed.

FIG. 2 is a hardware block diagram of the workstation 10. Input from the keyboard 20
CPU 150 processed by keyboard driver 90
Passed to. Similarly, the input from the mouse 30 is processed by the mouse driver 100. The CPU 150 executes the operating system, application programs, etc. loaded on the main memory 140, and writes the processing result to the frame memory 110 as necessary.
The display controller 120 is the frame memory 1
The contents of 10 are periodically read and displayed on the display 40. The CPU 150 is the disk controller 130.
Data is read from or written to the disk 160 via the. The network 70 can be accessed by using the communication interface 80.

First, the operation of the user in the electronic interactive system described in this embodiment will be described.

In the following example, the case of a joint work by two participants will be described, but a joint work in which three or more persons participate can of course be possible.

In the electronic dialogue system, a window called a conference room can be displayed on the screen of each person's display 40, and the material displayed on the window can be shared. By connecting the own conference room window and the conference room windows of other participants via the network 70, it becomes possible to share materials. Hereinafter, the conference room window may be simply referred to as a conference room.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the conference room window 200. A conference room name 210 is attached to the conference room window 200, and an arbitrary name can be designated. It is possible to open a plurality of conference rooms 200 by giving different names. Menu bar 22 at the top of the window
There are 0 and several menus 230 can be selected.

Below the menu bar 220, icons 240, 250 and 260 representing materials are displayed. The icon displayed depends on the conference room that was opened. Under each icon, icon names 245, 255, 265 are displayed. In this example, an icon 240 indicating “material”,
Three icons, an icon 250 indicating “drawing” and an icon 265 indicating “telephone”, are displayed. The data itself of each material is stored in advance in the disk of each conference participant. These icons can be operated by a pointer 270 that moves in association with the mouse 30.

FIG. 4 shows an operation in which two participants connect the conference room. Of the two display screens, the upper part is the display 40-A of the participant A and the lower part is the display 40-B of the participant B.
Is represented. Thus, the position of the conference room window 200 on the screen may be different for each participant.

To connect the conference room, participant A picks menu 230-A on menu bar 220-A. "Pick" means move the mouse 30 to move the pointer 2
The operation of moving the button 70 and pressing the button of the mouse 30 at a necessary place. When the menu 230-A is picked up, a pull-down menu 280-A is displayed. Some items (281) are displayed on the pull-down menu 280-A.
~ 285) are displayed. Among them, the item “Participation in dialogue” 281-A is selected.

On the other hand, participant B also has a menu bar 220-B.
No. 230-B, and the "designate dialog participant" item 282-B of the pull-down menu 280-B. When the person to be connected is further specified, the conference room window 200-A of the participant A and the conference room window 220-B of the participant B are connected.

Next, the operation of starting the application program in this state will be described. Conference room window 200
Picking the icon 240 above launches the corresponding application program. In the state where the conference room is connected, when one participant starts the application program, the same application program is started under the other participants.

As a concrete method of the above conference room connection operation and application start operation, for example, the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 1-117307 previously proposed by the present applicant can be used.

FIG. 5 shows how the participant A activates the "material". The participant A picks up the icon 240-A indicating "material" with the mouse pointer 270-A. Then, at the workstation 10-A of the participant A, "material" is displayed.
The application program corresponding to is started, and the "material" window 300-
A is displayed.

By the operation of the participant A, the same application program is started in the workstation 10-B of the participant B, and the "material" window 300-B is displayed on the display 40-B of the participant B. . The opening position of the window 300-B is the window 30.
It is not always the same as the open position of 0-A.

Running icons (240-A, 240-
B) is highlighted.

The electronic interactive system of this embodiment can share a plurality of types of such application programs. In the following, in order to simplify the description, the case where there is one application program to be shared will be shown.

Application program window 3
Several windows are displayed on 00-A. The hierarchical relationship of these windows is as shown in FIG. The application program top-level window 300 is at the top, and the child windows 32 are below it.
0 and 330, and the grandchild window 34 below them.
There are 0 and 350. Although this is only one example of the window structure of various application programs, the application program generally generates a plurality of windows in this way. There may be a plurality of top-level windows 300 in one application program. As can be seen from the figure, the window of a certain hierarchy is opened inside the window of the hierarchy above it. That is, the child window is opened inside the parent window, and the grandchild window is opened inside the child window.

In the electronic dialogue system, this window hierarchical structure is managed as a stage. That is, the top-level window 300 of the application program is set as the stage base window, and the windows below it are managed as belonging to the same stage as the stage base window.

In this embodiment, the top level window 3
00-A is a stage base window. Windows 320-A, 330-A, 340-A, 350-A all belong to the same stage as window 300-A.

In this embodiment, the telepointer is displayed as a child window of the stage base window. It is possible to display the telepointer as a display figure,
The graphic rewriting process when the telepointer is moved becomes complicated. On the other hand, if the telepointer is displayed as one of the windows, the movement of the telepointer can be processed by the window system as the movement of the window. The child window as the telepointer has a special shape as shown in FIG. 9 described later. For that purpose, the function of designating the window shape by an arbitrary bit pattern in the existing window system can be used.

FIG. 7 shows a window hierarchical structure after the telepointer is displayed. The telepointer window 400 is a child window of the top level window 300.
The telepointer child window should always be displayed on the screen in front of other child windows so that the child window as a telepointer is not hidden by other child windows.

Next, the operation of displaying the telepointer on the application window will be described.

FIG. 8 shows the case where the participant A displays the telepointer. The participant A moves the mouse pointer 270-A onto the application program window 300-A and presses the "telepointer use start key" on the keyboard 20-A. The "telepointer use start key" is the function key 1 by default, but it can be changed by the setting by the user. Instead of using the keys, a menu item for starting the use of the telepointer may be provided on the screen and selected with the mouse. In FIG. 8, the mouse pointer 270-A is on the window 340-A, but if it is on the application program window 300-A, other windows (320-A, 330-A, 340).
-A, 350-A). The stage base window displaying the telepointer is specified based on the position of the mouse pointer 270-A. In the electronic interactive system of the present embodiment, no matter which window is used to specify the start of use of the telepointer, the telepointer is displayed in the stage base window to which the window belongs.

The display screen after the operation of FIG. 8 is as shown in FIG. The telepointer 400-A is displayed on the application program window of the participant A. On the other hand, the telepointer 400-B is also displayed on the application program window 300-B of the corresponding participant B. The relative position where the telepointer 400-B is displayed in the application program window 300-B is the application program window 3 of the participant A.
This is the same as the relative position of the telepointer 400-A in 00-A. The color of the telepointer is set to indicate who is the owner of the telepointer (participant A in this case). For example, in this case, the telepointer is displayed in red under the participant A who is the owner of the telepointer, and is displayed in blue under the participant B.

Of course, this color can be set by the user. Also, the form of the telepointer can be changed by a simple operation using the menu. Such distinction of the telepointer can be indicated not only by the color and form but also by a hatching pattern, brightness and the like.

In this embodiment, the telepointer 400-A displayed by the participant A can be moved by the mouse operation of the participant A. FIG. 10 shows the movement of the telepointer. The participant A moves the mouse pointer 270-A and picks the button of the mouse 30-A. Then, the telepointer 400-A moves to the position of the mouse pointer 270-A. Further, when the mouse pointer 270-A is moved while the button of the mouse 30-A is being pressed, the telepointer 400-A also moves as the pointer moves.
In either case, the telepointer 400-B moves relatively the same on the application program window of the participant B in response to the operation of the participant A. At this time, the mouse pointer 270-B of the participant B is not affected.

When the participant A is displaying the telepointer 400-A, the participant A cannot input to the application program. At this time, the participant A is said to be in the telepointer mode. On the other hand, the participant B can input to the application program. At this time, the participant B is said to be in the application program mode.
In this way, in this embodiment, since the input mode is managed for each participant, each participant can use his / her own telepointer as needed.

The mouse used for moving the telepointer in the present embodiment is usually also used for input operation to the application. Therefore, by prohibiting input to the application while the telepointer is displayed, it is possible to prevent confusion between the input operation to the application and the moving operation of the telepointer. However, if a means for switching between application input and telepointer operation is provided while the telepointer is being displayed, it is not necessary to prohibit input to the application while the telepointer is being displayed.

Next, FIG. 11 shows an operation of displaying the telepointer by the participant B in addition to the participant A.

Similar to the above-mentioned telepointer display operation by the participant A, the participant B moves the mouse pointer 270-B onto the application program window 300-B, and presses the "telepointer use start key" on the keyboard 20-B. "push. Then, the mouse pointer 27 of the participant B
The telepointer 410-B is displayed at the position of 0-B.
At the same time, on the display 40-A of the participant A, the telepointer 410-A is displayed at the corresponding position on the application program window 300-A. Contrary to the previous case, the telepointer 410-B of the participant B is displayed in red and the pointer 410-A of the participant A is displayed in blue. That is, both the participant A and the participant B recognize that the red telepointer is a telepointer displayed (movable by itself). Participant B operates tele-pointer 410- by operating mouse 30-B.
B can be moved and the corresponding telepointer 41
0-A also moves at the same time. In this state, both participant A and participant B are in the telepointer mode.

Apart from the above-mentioned color assignment to the telepointer, it is also possible to assign the same color to the telepointers displayed by the same participant on any participant side. . Further, although the telepointer displayed by one participant is set so as not to be moved by other participants, it is also possible to allow other participants to move it.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the telepointer can only be moved. However, by moving the telepointer, the trajectory of movement of the telepointer can be written as a handwritten line on the application program window, or the handwritten line can be written. It may be possible to delete.

The operation of the user has been described above, but the processing of the telepointer display function of the electronic interactive system will be described below.

FIG. 12 shows the software configuration of the electronic dialogue system.

The control object 500 realizes the main function of the electronic dialogue system. Control object 500
Exists in each workstation and is roughly divided into a reception control module 520, a main control module 510, and a transmission control module 530.

The reception control module 520 receives a message from another control object via the network 70 and passes it to the main control module 510.

The transmission control module 530 transmits the message received from the main control module 510 to the network 7.
Send to another control object via 0.

Inside the main control module 510, a message reception control unit 512 and a message distribution control unit 51 are further provided.
4. Application program interface unit 51
6 and a telepointer interface unit 518.

The message reception control unit 512 uses the event 590 locally generated in the window system.
And receive a message from the reception control module 520.

The message distribution control unit 514 processes the message received from the message reception control unit 512, and then passes it to the transmission control module 530, the application program interface unit 516, and the telepointer interface unit 518 as necessary.

The application programs (550 to 554) shared under the electronic interactive system are executed under the control of the control object 500. Although three application programs are drawn in this figure, this number depends on the number of shared application programs.

It is the telepointer control object 540 that handles the telepointer display.

Among the messages handled by the electronic interactive system of this embodiment, the messages necessary for explaining the processing related to the telepointer will be described.

FIG. 23 shows the structure of a message used in this embodiment. Message 1000 is message header 1
005 and message body 1060. The message header 1005 contains the participant identifier 1010 of the message issuer and the application program identifier 102.
0, stage identifier 1030, message type 104
0 and message length 1050 are set. Different data is set in the message body 1060 depending on the message type 1040.

FIG. 24 shows a button press event message 1100 as an example of the message. An event is data that the window system transmits to an application program in response to user input. Participant identifier 1
In 110, the participant identifier of the user who generated this event is set. Application program identifier 1
In 120, the application program identifier of the application program in which this event has occurred is set. In the stage identifier 1130, the stage identifier of the stage to which the window corresponding to the window identifier included in this event belongs is set. Message type 1
A value indicating “event message” is set in 140. The message header 110 is included in the message length 1150.
The length (the number of bytes) of the message 1100 including 5 is set. A value indicating "button pressed" is set in the event type 1160. In the window identifier 1170, the window identifier of the window in which the event has occurred is set. The coordinates of the pointer when the button is pressed are set in the X coordinate 1180 and the Y coordinate 1190.

As an example of a message used for communication between the control object 500 and the telepointer control object 540, a telepointer operation start message 1200 is shown in FIG.

In the participant identifier field 1210, the participant identifier of the participant who has performed the telepointer utilization start operation is set. In the application program identifier field 1220, the application program identifier of the application program instructed to start using the telepointer is set. Stage identifier field 1230
Is set to the stage identifier of the stage instructed to start using the telepointer. Message type field 12
A value indicating "telepointer message" is set in 40. The message length 1250 has a message header 120.
The length (number of bytes) of the message 1200 including 5 is set. "Start Telepointer operation" in the message body
1260 and a window identifier 1270 of the stage base window are set.

The control object 500 has a window management table for managing the windows created by the application program. FIG. 13 shows the structure of the window management table 701. In the window management table 701, one window management table entry 700 is created for each window. The window management table entry 700 includes a window identifier 70
2, stage identifier 704 of the stage to which the window belongs, X coordinate 706 indicating the position of the window, Y
The coordinates 708 are stored. When the control object 500 is activated, the window management table is empty, but each time the application program creates a window, a window management table entry 700 is created and added to the window management table 701.

The stages are managed by the stage management table. FIG. 14 shows the structure of the stage management table 721. One stage management table entry 72 is provided for each stage in the stage management table 721.
0 is made. In the stage management table entry 720, the stage identifier 702, the window identifier 724 of the stage base window, the input mode 726 of the participant 1 and the input mode 728 of the participant 2 for the stage.
The input modes for the number of participants are stored in this order.

Although the stage management table is empty when the control object 500 is activated, a stage management table entry 720 is created and added to the stage management table 721 each time the application program creates a top level window.

The telepointer control object 540 manages the telepointer according to the telepointer management table.

FIG. 15 shows the structure of the telepointer management table. In the telepointer management table 741, one telepointer management table entry 740 is created for each telepointer. The telepointer management table entry 740 stores a stage identifier 742, a telepointer window identifier 744, a stage base window identifier 746, and an X coordinate 750 and a Y coordinate 752 of the telepointer relative to the stage base window.

When the telepointer control object 540 is activated, the telepointer management table 741 is empty, but each time the telepointer is used, a telepointer management table entry 740 is created and added to the telepointer management table 741. .

FIG. 16 shows the processing of the control object 500.

When the control object is activated, initialization processing (step 805) is followed by a loop (step 810).
When the loop is exited, the end processing (step 81
After performing 5), it ends.

The process repeated in the loop (step 810) is as follows: Receive a message (step 820).

A flag for message distribution is initialized (step 825). Here, an application program transmission flag, a TP (telepointer) transmission flag,
Reset the other control object send flag. These flags are set to appropriate values during message processing.

Processing Depending on Message Type (Step 830) Next, processing according to message type will be described.

In step 830, when the message type is the event message 1000 corresponding to the telepointer start operation, telepointer start message issuing processing is performed (step 835).

FIG. 17 shows the flow of the telepointer start message issuing process.

First, the telepointer start message 120
A message header of 0 is set (step 883).
Event message received for each message 1
000 of the participant identifier 1010 in the participant identifier field 1210 of the telepointer start message and the application identifier 1020 of the event message 1000.
The event message 1000 in the application identifier field 1220 of the telepointer start message.
Is set in the stage identifier field 1230 of the telepointer start message, and a value indicating "telepointer message" is set in the message type field 1240.

[Start Telepointer] in the message body
Is set (step 884).

Next, the stage identifier 1030 is extracted from the message header 1005 (step 886). The stage management table 721 is searched to obtain the stage management table entry 720 corresponding to the obtained stage identifier (step 888).

When the stage management table entry 720 is found, the stage base window identifier 724 is set as the stage base window identifier 1270 of the telepointer start message 1200 (step 8).
90).

Next, the message length 1250 is set (step 891).

The telepointer control object transmission flag is set so that the finally created message 1200 is transmitted to the telepointer control object (step 892).

The telepointer start message 1200 thus created is sent to the telepointer control object 540 through the telepointer control object interface section 518.

Returning to FIG. 16, in step 830, when the message type is the telepointer start message 1200, the stage management table 721 is updated (step 840).

FIG. 18 shows the flow of the stage management table update processing.

First, the stage identifier 1230 is extracted from the message header 1205 (step 952). The stage management table entry 720 corresponding to the stage identifier obtained by searching the stage management table is obtained (step 954).

Next, a telepointer start message 1200
The participant identifier 1210 of the message issuer is retrieved from the header 1205 of the message (step 956). Then, the stage management table entry 72 obtained in step 954
Input mode of the participant of 0 is "telepointer mode"
(Step 958). Thus, thereafter, the input from the participant who issued the telepointer start message 1200 is sent to the telepointer control object 540, not to the application program 550.

When the message type is the event message in step 830 of FIG. 16, the stage identifier 1030 of the message header is set and the event message is distributed according to the current input mode (step 850).

FIG. 19 shows the flow of event processing.

First, the window management table 701 is searched to obtain the window management table entry 700 corresponding to the window identifier included in the event message (step 905). The stage identifier of the stage to which the window corresponding to the window identifier included in the event message belongs is extracted from the obtained entry 700, and the stage identifier field 1 of the message header is extracted.
It is stored in 030 (step 910). Next, the stage management table 721 is searched for the stage identifier 1030.
The stage management table entry 720 corresponding to is obtained. (Step 915).

Of the input modes in the obtained entry 720, the participant identifier 10 of the issuer of the event message
Check the input mode corresponding to 10 (step 9)
20). If the input mode is the application program mode, the application program transmission flag is set (step 930). If the input mode is the telepointer mode, the telepointer transmission flag is set (step 935).

When the message type is the window generation message in step 830 of FIG. 16, the window management table 701 is updated (step 8).
55).

FIG. 20 shows the flow of the window management table 701 update processing.

First, the window management table entry 70
0 is created and added to the window management table 701 (step 950). The window identifier in the window generation message is stored in the window identifier 702 of the entry 700 (step 960).

It is determined whether the window corresponding to the window identifier 702 is the top level window (step 965).

If it is the top level window, a new stage registration process is performed (step 980).

FIG. 21 shows the flow of new stage registration processing.

First, a new stage management table entry 720 is created and added to the stage management table 721 (step 972). The newly assigned stage identifier is stored in the stage identifier field 722 of the created stage management table entry 720 (step 9).
74). The window identifier of the generated window is stored in the stage base window identifier field 724 of the entry 720 (step 976). The input modes (728 to 730) of all the participants of the same entry 720 are initialized to the application program mode (step 978).

If the window is not the top level window, the belonging stage setting process is performed (step 990).

FIG. 22 shows a flow of belonging stage setting processing.

First, the window identifier of the parent window of the generated window is acquired (step 984). Next, the window management table 701 is searched and the window management table entry 7 corresponding to the parent window is searched.
00 is obtained (step 986). The stage identifier 704 of the stage to which the parent window belongs is obtained from the obtained window management table entry 700 (step 98).
8). The obtained stage identifier is stored in the stage identifier field 1030 of the message (step 99).
0).

Next, the X coordinate 7 of the generated window
06, Y coordinate 708 is set (step 970), if the message type is other message in step 830, processing for other messages is performed (step 860). When the message processing is completed, the flag for message distribution is checked. Yes (Step 8
65).

If the application program transmission flag is set, the message is transmitted to the application program through the application program interface section 516 (step 870).

If the telepointer transmission flag is set, it is transmitted to the telepointer control object 540 through the telepointer interface section 518 (step 875).

If the other control object transmission flag is set, it is transmitted to the other control object through the transmission control module 530 (step 880).

As described above, in this embodiment, since the control object manages the stage base window of the stage to which each window belongs, the application program is not the window in which the event message that triggered the use of the telepointer has occurred, but the application program. A telepointer can be displayed in the top level window of. Therefore, no matter which window the telepointer starts to be used, it is possible to display and move the telepointer to all windows belonging to the same stage.

[0106]

According to the present invention, the user simply performs a telepointer start operation on an arbitrary window of the application, and the system automatically displays the telepointer in the top-level window of the application.
The operability of collaborative work is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a system showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a workstation.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a conference room window.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a connection operation of a conference room.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an activation operation of an application program.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a window hierarchy of an application program.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a position of a telepointer window in a window hierarchy.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a telepointer utilization start operation.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a display after a telepointer utilization start operation.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a moving operation of the telepointer.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a telepointer use start operation by a second participant.

FIG. 12 is a software configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the structure of a window management table.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a structure of a stage management table.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a structure of a telepointer management table.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a flow of processing of a control object.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a flow of a telepointer start message issuing process.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a flow of update processing of a stage management table.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing the flow of event processing.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a flow of window management table update processing.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a flow of new stage registration processing.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a flow of belonging stage setting processing.

FIG. 23 is a configuration diagram of a message used in the present invention.

FIG. 24 is a configuration diagram of a button press event.

FIG. 25 is a configuration diagram of a telepointer start message.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... workstation, 20 ... keyboard, 30 ...
Mouse, 40 ... Display, 50 ... Telephone, 70 ... Network, 200 ... Conference room window, 300 ... Application top-level window, 360 ... Telepointer window, 500 ... Control object, 54
0 ... Telepointer control object.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Chiho Kitahara 1099 Ozenji, Aso-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Inside Hitachi Systems Development Laboratory, Inc. (72) Inventor Kenjiro Mori 1099 Ozenji, Aso-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Hitachi Systems Co., Ltd. In the development laboratory (72) Inventor Tadashi Yamamitsu 890 Kashimada, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Hitachi Ltd. Software Development Division (56) References JP-A-4-184528 (JP, A) JP-A-4-116689 ( JP, A) JP 2-84860 (JP, A) JP 3-257519 (JP, A) JP 3-45991 (JP, A) JP 3-278784 (JP, A) JP 4-10994 (JP, A) JP 5-46559 (JP, A) JP 5-274240 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 3 / 14 -3/153 G06F 3/00 G06F 13/00 G06T 11/80 G09G 5/00-5/40

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A connecting a plurality of information processing apparatuses each having a display screen on a network, said connected plurality of information
When collaborate on the display screen of two or more information processing devices in the multicast processing device, wherein the instruction position on the display screen of one information processing apparatus among the two or more information processing apparatus
Teleporter for displaying a telepointer for recognition on the display screen of another information processing device among two or more information processing devices
An inter-display method, comprising a plurality of information processing devices connected to the network.
Participate in two or more information processing devices that participate in joint work in
Establishing a communication path between the information processing apparatus, in each of participant information processing apparatus, the information processing apparatus on the
Win by application program executed in
Monitor dough creation and share top-level windows
Multiple windows can belong to the same group
And managing each participating information processing device via the communication path.
Hierarchical window system by sending and receiving control signals
To execute the same application program on
And one of the participating information processing devices
Any of the same application programs
When a telepointer display start operation is performed in the window
Based on the group information of the managed windows above.
Based on the specified group to which the window belongs.
In the one information processing device,
Top of the group to which the window belongs, identified by
Steps for displaying a telepointer in the hierarchy window
And, in the participation information processing device via the communication path,
Other information that is an information processing device other than one information processing device
The fact that the telepointer display start operation has been performed on the processing device
In the step of notifying, in the other information processing device, receiving the notification,
Based on the group information of the window, which is the serial management
Created by the same application program described above.
The highest hierarchy of the group to which the created window belongs
The window of the one information processing device in the window
In the same phase as the relative position in which the telepointer is displayed
A step of displaying a telepointer at a relative position, and a step of displaying a top pointer on the display screen of the one information processing device.
The other information is linked to the movement of the telepointer in the window.
The pair in the top-level window on the display screen of the
Moving the corresponding telepointer.
And a telepointer display method characterized by . 2. A step of executing the same application program on the hierarchical window system, the one information processing apparatus, when starting an application program, the other participating to that effect to the collaboration 2. The telepointer display method according to claim 1, wherein the information processing device is notified, and the information processing device that has received the notification automatically activates the same application program as the application program. 3. The telepointer display method according to claim 1, wherein in the step of displaying the telepointer, a telepointer is displayed as a child window of the uppermost hierarchical window. 4. A display start operation by the one information processing device.
Telepointer the work is performed, the one information processing apparatus
Telepointer display method according to claim 1, characterized in that a movable instruct Thus only from. 5. telepointer displayed by said one information processing apparatus telepointer display method according to claim 1, characterized in that a result is movable to an instruction from any information processing apparatus. 6. Another information processing device connected to a network
Instructed on his / her own display screen when collaborating with
Recognize the position on the display screen of the other information processing device
Together with the instruction on the display screen of the other information processing device
Telepoi for recognizing the position on the display screen
An information processing apparatus having an interface display function, the communication path establishing a communication path with the other information processing apparatus.
Establishing means and supervising window creation by application programs
View multiple windows that share a top-level window.
Manage doughs as windows that belong to the same group
Control between the window management means and the other information processing device via the communication path
On a hierarchical window system by sending and receiving signals
Applications that execute the same application program
Application execution means and any of the same application programs
When the telepointer display start operation is performed in the
Based on the managed window group information
A group feature that identifies the group to which the window belongs
Determining means and the win specified by the group specifying means.
Teleport to the top-level window of the group to which Doe belongs
A telepointer display means for displaying an interface and the telepointer to the other information processing device via the communication path.
Notification means for notifying that a pointer display start operation has been performed
And a telepointer display start operation in the other information processing device
Receiving means for receiving a notification that the notification has been performed, and receiving the notification received by the receiving means ,
Windows managed by window management means
Based on the group information of
The window created by the program belongs to
Other information in the top level window of the group
The telepointer in the processor window is displayed
The telepointer at the same relative position as
Second telepointer display means, and the other information processing device notified via the receiving means.
The display image of yourself is linked with the movement of the telepointer in the storage.
The corresponding telepointer in the top-level window on the surface
Japanese to have a tele pointer movement means for moving the
Information processing equipment to be collected.